Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great BritainStukeley, William
History
Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain
Stukeley, William
Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Early works to 1800; Great Britain -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
Between Nᵒ 5. and 6. is a pretty large camp, called Chiselbury, upon
the northern brow of the hill: it is single ditched and of a roundish
form: before the chief entrance is an half-moon, with two apertures
for greater security: there is a ditch indeed goes from it downward
to the valley on both sides, but not to be regarded. This I imagine
relates not to the camp; for I observed the like across the same road
in many places between little declivities, and seem to be boundaries
and sheep-walks made since, and belonging to particular parishes. I
fancy this name imparted from some shepherd’s cot, anciently standing
hereabouts, in Saxon _Ccsol_. It seems to be a Roman camp, but of later
date. At the end of this course, when you come to the great chalk-hill
looking towards Shaftesbury, are three or four Celtic barrows, one long
and large, pointing east and west: in this hill is a quarry of stone,
very full of sea-shells. Not far off, in the parish of Tisbury, near
Warder castle, is a great intrenchment in a wood, which was probably a
British _oppidum_, and near the river before mentioned.
[Sidenote: Carvilii _tumulus_.]
Returning, we see upon the highest eminence that overlooks Wilton,
and the fertile valley at the union of the Nader and Willy, the
famous King-barrow, as vulgarly called: it is a round _tumulus_,
of a most ancient form, flat at top, and without any ditch. Your
lordship rightly judges it in situation to be one of the highest
barrows in England, being, by exact observation from the water-level
and calculation, at least four hundred foot above the surface of the
ocean. This, questionless, is a Celtic _tumulus_: and the very name,
inherent through long revolutions of time, indicates it to be the grave
of a king of this country of the _Belgæ_, and that Wilton was his
royal residence, which for goodness of air, of water and soil, joined
with the most delightful downs all around it, must highly magnify his
judgement in choice of a place second to none for all the conveniences
and delicacies of life. If we reflect a little upon the matter, it
appears a supposition far from improbability, that this is the very
monument of Carvilius mentioned by Cæsar, who, joining with the other
kings along the country on the sea-side from hence to Kent, attacked
his sea-camp on the Rutupian shore: and this was to make a diversion
to the great Roman general, pressing hard upon Cassibelan; for, as the
late learned and sagacious Mr. Baxter observes in his Glossary, where
should _Carvilius_ live, but among the _Carvilii_? as _Segonax_, one
of his confederates, among the _Segontiaci_; that is, _Segontium_,
or _Caersegont_, as the Britons call it; which is now Silchester.
And it seems to have been the fashion of that time for kings to be
denominated from the people or place they governed; as _Cassibelan_
was in name and fact king of the _Cassii_; and many other instances
I might bring of like nature. Where then should _Carvilius_ live,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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